Top 5 Richard Briers moments

As the world mourns the death of The Good Life actor Richard Briers, we look at five other highlights in a long and surprisingly varied career

Ever Decreasing Circles – The 1980s TV show that reunited Briers with The Good Life writers John Esmonde and Bob Larbey saw him play the antithesis of Tom Good – a suburban busybody who was obsessive to the point of maddening. Peter Egan and Penelope Wilton co-starred.

Noddy – For children of the 1970s, their association with Briers wasn’t with The Good Life, but Noddy – Briers’s cosy tones narrated the BBC’s TV version of Enid Blyton’s colourful Toyland adventures. He also voiced Roobarb, a sketchily marker-penned green dog whose (mis)adventures also proved a big hit for the BBC.

Monarch Of The Glen – Briers was back at the BBC again in 2000 as Hector Naismith MacDonald, the eccentric former Laird of Glenbogle and a man with a knack for getting into trouble. The long-running Highland drama provided Briers with a return to the spotlight.

Briers was always particularly proud of his classical roles and joined Kenneth Branagh’s Renaissance Theatre company in 1987. He would star in several Branagh Shakespeare stage productions, including Twelfth Night, in which he played Malvolio, the malcontent servant of Olivia who is tricked into wearing a pair of yellow stockings to prove his love. The production was so successful it was filmed for TV in 1988 with a cast that included Frances Barber as Viola.

Richard Briers in London Assurance (Picture: Catherine Ashmore)

Mr Spanker, London Assurance (2010)

As the virtually senile Mr Spanker in Boucicault’s 1841 farce, Briers reminded everyone of his extraordinary comic powers when Nicholas Hytner revived the play at the National Theatre in 2010. Simon Russell Beale may have stolen much of the limelight as the foppish Sir Harcourt Courtly but Briers was a dream as the dotty husband thoroughly upstaged by his hearty, jodhpur-clad wife, played with brio by Fiona Shaw.

Richard Briers dies

Photo from 1972 of actor Richard Briers, known to millions for his role in TV's The Good Life, who has died at the age of 79 (PA)

Photo from 1972 of actor Richard Briers, known to millions for his role in TV's The Good Life, who has died at the age of 79 (PA)

Richard Briers dies

JUNE 1972 Prunella Scales and Richard Briers, billposting in Rupert Street on the opening of the headquarters of the Save Piccadilly Campaign on the site of the Almost Free Theatre. (PA)

JUNE 1972 Prunella Scales and Richard Briers, billposting in Rupert Street on the opening of the headquarters of the Save Piccadilly Campaign on the site of the Almost Free Theatre. (PA)

Richard Briers dies

Felicity Kendal, who played Barbara, and Richard Briers, known to viewers as Tom from the BBC's 1970's show The Good Life (PA)

Felicity Kendal, who played Barbara, and Richard Briers, known to viewers as Tom from the BBC's 1970's show The Good Life (PA)

Richard Briers dies

JUNE 2007 The Prince of Wales meeting actor Richard Briers during a lunch reception for the Actors' Benevolent Fund at Clarence House, (PA)

File photo dated 13/6/2007 of the Prince of Wales meeting actor Richard Briers during a lunch reception for the Actors' Benevolent Fund at Clarence House, London. Briers, known to millions for his role in TVís The Good Life, has died at the age of 79, his agent said. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday February 18, 2013. See PA story DEATH Briers. Photo credit should read: Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA Wire

FILE PHOTO: Richard Briers has died at the age of 79

NOVEMBER 2008 Richard Briers and partner arrive at the 56th annual Variety Club Showbiz Awards at Grovesnor House (Getty)

NOVEMBER 2008 Richard Briers and partner arrive at the 56th annual Variety Club Showbiz Awards at Grovesnor House (Getty)

Richard Briers dies

NOVEMBER /2003 Richard Briers, with his CBE medal with his wife Annie and grandchildren Harry and Rachael at Buckingham Palace (PA)

NOVEMBER /2003 Richard Briers, with his CBE medal with his wife Annie and grandchildren Harry and Rachael at Buckingham Palace (PA)

Richard Briers dies

File photo dated 17/1/2002 of actors Robert Lindsay, Lord Attenborough and Richard Briers. Briers, known to millions for his role in TVís The Good Life, has died at the age of 79, his agent said. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday February 18, 2013. See PA story DEATH Briers. Photo credit should read: Andy Butterton/PA Wire

Richard Briers dies

Richard Briers was awarded a CBE for his services to entertainment (Picture: PA)

Richard Briers was awarded a CBE for his services to entertainment (Picture: PA)